The United States was not founded on a system of entrenched political parties. The Founders explicitly warned against them. Yet today, citizens are forced into a party-dominated system -- just to vote, run for office, or even observe the process that governs them.

George Washington, in his Farewell Address of 1796, cautioned against "the continual mischiefs of the spirit of party." James Madison, in Federalist No. 10, warned that factions -- especially those based on party or economic interest -- would promote division and undermine the public good.

Political parties are private entities. They select and fund candidates aligned with their platforms, enforce loyalty, and exclude those who don’t conform -- yet they dominate publicly funded elections.

As one New York voter put it: “I pay high taxes like everyone else, but I couldn’t vote in the primary because I’m not a registered party member. That’s not democracy.”

Millions of Americans -- especially independents -- help fund our elections but are locked out of the process, bound by rules they didn’t create, muzzled in primaries, and held hostage by private interests that have made themselves gatekeepers. New York State registration data shows a clear shift: unaffiliated voters (over 3.3 million) and Republicans (about 3 million) each make up roughly one-quarter of the electorate, while Democrats account for just under half. As shown in the accompanying graph, these voters are excluded from........

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